“Trumps gonna f--- you… you f------ Asian piece of s---. Go back to whatever f------ Asian country you’re from.” These offensive remarks were directed towards Jordan Chan and her family at a California restaurant over the Fourth of July weekend. These harsh words, spoken by Michael Lofthouse, the CEO of a San Francisco tech company, shook the Chan family along with the millions of viewers who saw the video Chan posted of the incident.
Despite a subtle, underlying Asian directed racism always existing within America, recent events have only heightened the frequencies of this prejudice. As the coronavirus alters daily American life, Chinese-Americans face additional threats, ranging from verbal harassment to physical crimes, the rise in racism towards Chinese-Americans has caused them to fear even simple tasks like grocery shopping and taking a stroll outside. Unfortunately, the xenophobia fueling the flames of these attacks is partly kindled by our own government.
President Donald Trump and his allies have been referring to COVID-19 as “the Chinese virus”, “Chinese flu”, and “Kung flu”. By ignoring the World Health Organization’s guidance to avoid addressing illnesses with their geographic locations, Trump has encouraged a national sentiment of racism against Asian-Americans. His reference also contradicts the remarks from the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who noted that the phrase is inaccurate. President of Asian Americans Advancing Justice John C. Yang told NBC that Trump's words are indeed dangerous, and a noticeable incline of hate incidents have occurred after the usage of the terms started. Trump’s comments help citizens feel “justified” in a way of their racism, by placing the blame of the virus on one particular group of people.
Asian American researchers and advocacy groups stated that there has been a large surge in the verbal and physical harassments reported to tip lines and in newspapers. San Francisco State University found a 50 percent rise in the number of news articles about anti-Asian discrimination between February and March of this year. Being that the reported incidents are only the larger ones, the overall racism against Asians has spiked dramatically as a result
When asked about putting Asian Americans' safety at risk by using the phrases, Trump said that he does “not at all” believe that Asian Americans are being put at risk–and even said that “they probably agree with it 100 percent”. Yuh-Line Niou, State Assembly member who represents New York City’s Chinatown, noted that Asian Americans in her district contradict Trump's statement and do not think the phrase is justified. Niou herself has received numerous incidents of harassment due to the pandemic, including people shouting at her and calling her office claiming that she eats bats.
The evidence shows that Trump’s remarks have already provoked more racism directed towards Asian-Americans. Recently, reports of anti-Asian related crimes have skyrocketed - including anywhere from verbal assault to stabbings. In Texas, an Asian family including a two-year-old and a six-year-old were stabbed because the suspect believed “the family was Chinese, and infecting people with the coronavirus.” In Brooklyn, an 89-year-old woman was slapped across the face and her clothes were lit on fire by two men she has never met before. The victim said that one of them slapped her in the face and she then felt a sharp pain on her back. When she realized her shirt was set on fire, she quickly rubbed her back against a wall to put out the flames.
However, this racist stigma towards Asians has spanned to not only affect individuals but businesses as well. For example, a Korean restaurant in New York, Jeju, was vandalized overnight with clear anti-Asian sentiments such as graffiti saying “stop eating dogs.” Other restaurants were vandalized with statements like “coronavirus” and “go home to China”. Even non-asian companies such as Disney have faced vandalism on their promotions merely because of Asian presence such as in their upcoming Mulan movie.
In late March of this year, Trump announced that he is pulling back from using the term “Chinese virus” and told Fox News that he is not regretful of using the phrase because the virus originated from China. He also issued a statement on Twitter that the coronavirus in the US is not the fault of Asian Americans stating, “It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States.” Despite his statements, anti-Asian racism still continues with reports and videos of hate crimes often surfacing. In such an unprecedented time in our history, it is important that Americans join together to fight this virus, and not turn on our own.
Works Cited
Tavernise, Sabrina, and Richard A. Oppel. “Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for Their Safety.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.html.
Vazquez, Maegan. “Trump Says He's Pulling Back from Calling Novel Coronavirus the 'China Virus'.” CNN, Cable News Network, 24 Mar. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/politics/donald-trump-pull-back-coronavirus-chinese-virus/index.html.
Yam, Kimmy. “Trump Doubles down That He's Not Fueling Racism, but Experts Say He Is.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 19 Mar. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/trump-doubles-down-he-s-not-fueling-racism-experts-say-n1163341.
Written by: Linda Liu
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